1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a helicopter rotor with a lead-lag damper mounted so that it is free in operation from pitch change and flapping motion of the blade.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the helicopter rotor art, it has been conventional practice to mount the lead-lag damper in fully articulated sleeved bearing rotors so that the damper is unaffected by blade pitch change and flapping motions by connecting the opposite ends of the damper to the rotor hub and the horizontal hinge or flapping axis pin as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,584. Since each component's motion was separated by some style of sleeve or stack bearing, each component provided a single axis of motion, and flap and pitch decoupling was divorced from the lead-lag axis.
With the advent of helicopter rotors which have blades mounted from spherical elastomeric bearings, or a uniball fully articulated rotor, the lead-lag damper connected between all axis of motion experiences pitch and flap coupling as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,854.